Bars near the Statue of Liberty

Overstory is as cozy as a music box in the sky inside, with views that seem to go on forever out on the wrap-around terrace. Perched on the 64th floor of 70 Pine Street above sibling spots Crown Shy and Saga, it's the just-drinks cherry on top of the trio of outstanding spots. The futniture's plush, the cocktails are crafty and even the ice is extra nice at what's become one of NYC's most elegant cocktail destinations since it opened last year. 

This Revolutionary-era tavern now operates as the first stateside outpost of Dublin’s Porterhouse Brewing Company. Tangles of filament bulbs above the bar and distressed mirrors on the walls smack of artificial ye-oldeness, but the real pedigree of the place still holds appeal for beer-swilling history buffs, who can geek out over the thought of George Washington drinking here in the 1700s. Hoist imperial pints of Porterhouse’s own brews—we like the smooth, slightly tangy Oyster Stout and the easy-drinking Porterhouse Red—or sample the globe-trotting selection of guest beers, including Victory Prima Pils on tap and bottles of Schlenkerla smoked beer.

At this time-capsule FiDi nook, you can drink like a boss—Boss Tweed, that is. In a redbrick landmark, Belfast bar vets Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry (of Northern Ireland’s acclaimed Merchant Hotel) have conjured up a rough-and-tumble 19th-century tavern. And it’s just the kind of saloon that the bare-knuckle Five Points gang the joint’s named after (its emblem was a dead rabbit impaled on a spike) would have frequented. DRINK THIS: Resurrecting long-forgotten quaffs is nothing new in Gotham, but the Dead Rabbit’s sheer breadth of throwback libations eclipses the competition. Spanning 100-some-odd bishops, fixes, nogs and smashes, the bar squarely hits many of these mid-1800s hallmarks. The Byrrh Wine Daisy ($14), era-appropriate in its china teacup with mustache guard, is particularly well wrought: Puckery rhubarb soda, raspberry eau-de-vie and fresh citrus amp up the fruit-forward Byrrh, while bitter Amaro CiaCiaro and piney angelica tinctures squelch any overt sweetness. Some drinks are less successful in their reincarnations (the Tween Deck is a flat mix of Jamaican rum, Sixpoint cask-conditioned ale, lime sherbet and allspice), but the whopping list holds plenty of sure-footed sips alongside the missteps. GOOD FOR: A working-class drink—though that working class is now buttoned-down bankers instead of roughneck Irish dockhands. McGarry and Muldoon liberate the cocktail from its blue-blood trappings. The snug, sawdust-strewn first floor is made for pints and whiskey...

Five and Dime NYC is located within the lobby of the iconic Woolworth Building and serves as a coffee bar by day and cocktail hotspot by night. Stop in for happy hour every day from 3-6pm for discounted drinks, with live opera music on Tuesdays from 7-9pm. They also screen original films by local filmmakers—so head to their Instagram for dates and times.

A stone's throw from its 19th-century namesake, Castle Clinton—America's first beer garden—the folks behind Watermark Bar honor the storied nabe with a 4,000-square-foot Battery Park beer hall of their own. At the marble bar, 20 taps rotate selections of hard-to-find German and domestic brews, available in pints, half pints or third pints. A flux capacitor behind the bar controls the carbonation and temperature of each tap, ensuring that pints are served at an optimal 34 degrees. Pub grub includes 10 different types of burgers, a sweet-and-salty donut grilled cheese, and classic bar bites like waffle fries and Bavarian-style soft pretzels. 

A downtown Irish pub and restaurant that feels like a charming relic of yore.

  A cocktail bar in the Financial District.

It's only a whiskey stone’s throw away from the Dead Rabbit—Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry’s exceptionally successful cocktail bar on Water Street (dubbed the World’s Best Bar at 2015’s Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards)—but the sequel from the renowned team couldn’t be further away in terms of theme. Where the original tavern looked to the Irish gangs of Five Points- in New York, this second outfit, located inside the Pier A Harbor House complex, channels Prohibition-era Cuba, a time when Americans flocked to the island nation for the liquid pick-me-up that U.S. law was denying them. A statue of Cuban lit hero José Martí stands proudly at the rum-flowing bar, where the stools are modeled after those in Ernest Hemingway–frequented joints in balmy Havana, and the expansive menu is loaded with more than 50 cocktails pulling from the 1920s through ’50s. And unsurprisingly, those cocktails are excelente.ORDER THIS: Meticulously researched cocktails ($16) created by some of the planet’s most illustrious bar talent. A collaboration between McGarry, Dead Rabbit head bartender Jillian Vose and BlackTail head barman Jesse Vida, the menu upholds Cuban classics like daiquiris and mojitos, which are made with the bar’s proprietary “Cuban Rum Blend” (Bacardi Heritage, Barbancourt White Rhum, Caña Brava and Banks 5 Island). A humble rum and Coke is elevated with the refined fizz of champagne, the amaro edge of Fernet-Branca and a few dashes of house-made Orinoco bitters; the...

Suds lovers need look no further than Keg No. 229, a beer bar with more than 70 different brews in bottles, cans and on draft. The draft list changes regularly, and you can always create a flight from any four of the beers ($14). Keg No. 229 also offers pour-your-own tap stations for the DIY drinker: First, purchase a bracelet to unlock the unlimited taps, then refill your glass of Bronx Rye Pale Ale, Flagship Oyster Stout or any of the other six beers as often as you like (price varies). Other beers include Ommegang Three Philosophers ($12), Evil Twin Molotov Cocktail ($10) and Boulevard Tank 7 ($11). Whiskey drinkers will also be happy to peruse the extensive menu of bourbon, rye and single malt. Chow down on bar favorites like fried pickles ($9), jalapeno bacon mac and cheese ($12) and eight different burgers ($14–$19) while you’re there.

If there ever was a bar fit for the Sherman McCoys and Patrick Batemans of New York, this new offering from David Tobias and Eric Adolfsen should technically be it. Tucked into the base of the storied Woolworth Building, an old-world skyscraper with a $110 million penthouse under construction, a 100-year-old gilded lobby and a location plumb in the heart of the Financial District, all the stars seemed aligned for the bar to fulfill its soft-jazz, $25-cocktail destiny. Instead, the publike barroom—a sister bar to private-event space the Wooly—touts its stately ancestry not with highfalutin fare or snooty service but with cheeky woolly mammoth paintings and Whitney Houston on blast. The inevitable suits gather by the bar, but a more mixed crowd can be found munching burgers and sipping cocktails among hanging plants, framed vintage photos and faux-marble wallpaper in the sitting area. It may not exude the luxe grandiosity that F.W. Woolworth envisioned for his skyscraper, but it certainly gives his vision a rollicking run for its money. ORDER THIS: The cocktail menu by Eryn Reece (Death & Co.) is divided into two sections: Old Souls and New Editions ($15), with the former riffing on early-20th-century drinks and the latter comprising modern quaffs. Of the New Editions, the vodka-based Icelandic Pop evokes none of its frosty name, instead manifesting as a rich, bittersweet twist on a tropical drink with aquavit, raspberry syrup and ginger. Twisting the Lion’s Tail, a 1930s...